Republican Party Orange County

Contentiousness over a proposed international airport at El Toro Marine base has both major political parties in Orange County tiptoeing around the issue as they gear up for the March primaries. County GOP Executive Director Bill Christiansen cringed when asked if the party would take a position on the airport. He said the Republican central committee has "stayed clear" of debates on El Toro because it is too divisive an issue among longtime GOP activists and elected officials on both sides.

In the last two years, state Republican Party chairman Michael Schroeder has helped raise record amounts of money, operated a smooth absentee ballot program and financed an extensive get-out-the-vote effort. But when the votes were counted last November, California Republicans took their worst drubbing in 40 years. That makes Schroeder the captain of the Titanic in the eyes of some, even if others, such as gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, helped steer the ship into the electoral iceberg.

The criminal campaign misconduct case against Assemblyman Scott Baugh began three years ago with a roar of prosecutorial indignation, its targets accused of a twisted conspiracy to flout state laws, defraud voters and manipulate the democratic process. Now that state Atty. Gen.

Veteran U.S. Rep. Ron Packard, known as a leader in cutting government spending, said Wednesday that he will not seek reelection next year, opening his largely Republican district to a crush of GOP hopefuls. Packard, 68, said he will step down in January 2001, after 18 years in Congress, to spend more time with his family.

State Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) became the first Republican candidate Thursday to announce that he will run in March for the seat being vacated by Rep. Ron Packard (R-Vista), who announced his retirement this week. Morrow said he will open an exploratory committee and begin raising money and support from leaders in the three-county district, which stretches from Laguna Hills to north San Diego County and includes Temecula in Riverside County.

The Lincoln Club of Orange County, long a bastion of wealthy Republican donors to state and federal candidates, has targeted a handful of cities that block its ability to influence nonpartisan local elections. The club filed a lawsuit this week against the city of Irvine, alleging that barring the club from spending money in local races is an unconstitutional restraint on free speech.

Times are good. The Orange County economy is perky. So it would seem a dream year for political incumbents. Except, perhaps, for Assemblyman Jim Morrissey and state Sen. Rob Hurtt. Both Republicans face testy reelection battles in their overlapping central Orange County districts this fall. But they're not just worried about their Democratic foes.

Apparently aiming to mend fences, House Speaker Newt Gingrich extolled Republicans to support members of their own party, including Robert K. Dornan, at a GOP unity rally Monday at the Orange County Fairgrounds. "There is one more incumbent who should be up here," Gingrich told the wildly cheering crowd of more than 5,000 Republicans at the outdoor rally, sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Broadening a personal dispute, former congressman Robert K. Dornan on Friday threatened to boycott an Orange County Republican unity rally this month featuring House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the drawing card. Dornan said he would stay away from the June 29 "national town meeting" hosted by the National Republican Congressional Committee unless Gingrich invites him personally by telephone.

Former Rep. Robert K. Dornan said Monday that he will run in the June primary seeking the Republican nomination to challenge freshman Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). Dornan, who had left Republicans wondering for months whether he would get in the race, said he will formally announce his candidacy at a press conference Saturday in Garden Grove.